Let the Games Begin ...

Ok, so the first WSB round is over, the first AMA American Superbike motorcycle race ran on Thursday afternoon and the Daytona 200 was yesterday evening, under the lights. The 2009 season's off to a good start (sort of) and all three races are worth a comment or two ... the good, the bad and the ugly.

IMHO WSB is definately off to a great start. Being Brit-born, living in Canada, I try very hard to find some reason not to like American riders, but I'm having a hard time not liking Ben Spies. He comes from the Mat Mladin school of racing and if he can beat Mladin, he can beat anyone on a superbike. That boy knows how to race motorcycles. It would be nice to see Haga finally win a season, and with Baylis retired, this was promising to be his season in the sun ... unfortunately Spies may spoil his tea party. Lots of depth to the rest of field ... notice how many different riders attempted passes at Lukey Heights? This looks like it's going to be a good year to watch WSB.

Without Ben Spies, this year's AMA Pro American Superbike races will feature Mat Mladin, followed by all the other guys. The only question will be "Who will finish second?" ... Neil Hodgson gave a good performance at Daytona, but who knows how things will turn out on a proper race track? Next race: March 22nd at Fontana, California.

Then there's the Daytona 200. What can I say ... the lead riders seemed to like the format, because there was time to relax and chat as they tootled around behind the pace car. Relax!? Chat!? Pace car!? WTF ... it's NASCAR on two wheels. The 200 is supposed to be a race of bike, rider skill and the ENDURANCE of both, tested over 200 miles. The NASCAR format, bunching up riders to turn a long race into a series of short sprints, with a bit of luck-randomizing thrown in, makes it a completely different type of race not worthy of its own heritage. Then again, it hasn't been much of a race since they switched down from litre bikes to 600cc minibikes.

Next up ... BSB and MotoGP!